On May 9 of this year, Pope Francis issued a papal bull, Spes non confudit [“Hope Does Not Disappoint”}, proclaiming the Ordinary Jubilee year of 2025. This Jubilee had previously been announced by Pope Saint John Paul II at the end of the Great Jubilee year of 2000, and it follows the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy observed in 2015-2106. Pope Francis indicated that the forthcoming Jubilee will commence in Rome on Christmas Eve 2024, and then throughout the rest of the world locally on December 29, the Feast of the Holy Family. It will conclude in 2025 on the Feast of the Holy Family (December 28) in local dioceses, and in Rome on Solemnity of the Epiphany, January 6, 2026.
Jubilee years are biblical in origin. In the Book of Leviticus (25:8-13), the Lord proclaims to Moses on Mount Sinai that, once every fifty years, a special annual period is to be observed by the Jewish community as a time to renew their relationship with God and each other. The Jubilee year was observed as a time marked by the forgiveness of debts, the return of ill-begotten lands, and when fields would remain unsown so that the fertility of the soil could be restored. The word “jubilee” is taken from the instrument that was sounded at the beginning and end of this annual period: the yobel, or ram’s horn.
The timing of the jubilee year held a significant meaning for the Jewish People. In that culture, seven was considered to be a perfect number and was often associated with the works of God (e.g., the seven days of creation). Accordingly, the seven weeks of seven years which separated jubilee years was a symbol of God’s perfection, with the jubilee year itself serving as a coda or completion to this perfect series of perfect numbers.
In the Christian community, it was Pope Boniface VIII who, in 1300, called the first jubilee year. Since that time, jubilee or holy years have been observed at different times and various intervals. Starting in 1470, these celebrations have been scheduled every twenty-five years, and additional (or “extraordinary”) jubilees have occasionally been observed as well. Today, jubilee years are frequently marked by pilgrimages, an increased focus on reconciliation with God and the Church, the expansion of special opportunities for spiritual indulgences, and unique liturgical rites.
Perhaps the most memorable of the jubilee liturgies involves the opening of holy doors. The first such door was designated by Pope Martin V, in 1423, at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran. A second holy door was opened at Saint Peter’s Basilica on Christmas in the jubilee year of 1499. The original mediaeval liturgy for the opening of the holy door at Saint Peter’s included several distinctive elements. The rite began with the creation of an opening in one of the walls of Saint Peter’s Basilica. The Holy Father himself initiated this action by striking the stones of the wall with a ceremonial hammer. As masons continued the work of deconstructing the wall in preparation for the mounting of the holy door, the faithful would rush to gather the fragments of the bricks and cement, treating them as relics. At the conclusion of the jubilee year, the Pope would begin the process of resealing the wall by laying down several bricks and placing coins that commemorated the year into the cement. In recent years, several changes have been made to these rites, and the Holy Father no longer participates in the opening and closing of the wall, but rather, the holy door itself. He now solemnly opens the door, leading the people of God as a fellow pilgrim and as a sign of the journey of all the the Christian faithful toward the Kingdom of God.
In the forthcoming Jubilee Year, holy doors will be opened at Saint Peter’s Basilica and the other major Roman Basilicas. In his papal bull, Pope Francis announced his intention to open a holy door also in a prison, given that the Jubilee year is an especially appropriate moment “to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Is 61:1-2)” (10). Unlike the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy (2015-2016), holy doors will not be opened at other churches throughout the world in 2025. However, a jubilee indulgence may be received by visiting cathedral churches and other churches specially designated by the local bishop.
The initiative of establishing a holy door in a prison reflects the Holy Father’s theme for the 2025 Jubilee Year, which is Pilgrims of Hope. It is Pope Francis’ desire that members of Christ’s faithful will become ambassadors of the hope that Christ’s Paschal Mystery brings into the world. The Pope noted that a particular locus of Christian Paschal joy is baptism, and he encouraged the faithful during the Jubilee Year to reflect more deeply on the gift of new life and the grace of supernatural hope that flows from the celebration of this sacrament. As an aid to this effort, Holy Father invited Christians during the Jubilee Year to spend time meditating on the symbols of baptism used in their parish church. He drew special attention to baptismal fonts that are eight-sided and which are evocative of a contemplative gaze towards a brighter future in the Lord: “Baptism is the dawn of the ‘eighth day,’ the day of the resurrection, a day that transcends the normal, weekly passage of time, opening it to the dimension of eternity and to life everlasting: the goal to which we tend on our earthly pilgrimage” (20).
In Spes non confudit, Pope Francis also noted that 2025 marks the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea (325), which provided a universal method of calculating the date of Easter for all local churches. As it happens, the date of Easter on the Julian and Gregorian calendars will coincide in 2025, and Pope Francis stated that the Jubilee year is an opportunity for all Christians to consider anew and prayer for unity and communion amongst all of Christ’s followers, both East and West.
In the days following the publication of the papal bull, the Apostolic Penitentiary issued a decree describing the conditions for obtaining a special plenary indulgence during the Jubilee year. This indulgence may be obtained by traveling to any sacred Jubilee site (in Rome or locally), and participating in a Mass, a Liturgy of the Word, one of the principal hours in the Liturgy of the Hours, devotional prayers such as the Way of the Cross, the Rosary, or a communal penance service with individual confession and absolution.
The Jubilee indulgence may also be gained by visiting a Jubilee site and praying for a suitable period of time before the exposed Blessed Sacrament, concluding with an Our Father, a Profession of Faith, and invocations to Mary. As well, one may obtain the Jubilee indulgence by performing spiritual and corporal works of mercy or engaging in acts of penance. In all cases, the Jubilee indulgence is subject to the usual conditions: sacramental confession, reception of Holy Communion, prayer for the intentions of the Pope, and total detachment to all sin, including venial sin. The full decree with additional details on the Jubilee indulgence is available on the Vatican website.
Several resources, both universal and local, have been prepared for the Jubilee Year, and these may be found both at the Vatican website and the USCCB website. These include a calendar of events, a Jubilee app, prayer services, special Jubilee hymns, and information on obtaining pilgrimage visas for travel to holy sites.
-Fr. Matthew Ernest